Alter Code: Perditus
by C. Rinkuki Takato
Summary: WAAC:F—The same story could be very different, depending on the version or the person telling it. Some were lucky enough to be told, while others aren't so lucky and they were lost in the tides of time. This is one of those hidden stories, one telling of a certain band of "Migratory Birds" of the lands of Filgaia. "The world is far crueler, darker than you think it is."
1. Adlehyde 1

Thank these people:  
\- GameFAQs' Split Infinity (YouTube's Splitplaythru), and Prima's official guide (as reference for in-game things),  
\- GameFAQs' Psycho_Crack (ACF's game script; as reference, too),  
\- and Krysmphoenix's LP of ACF (for being so damn humorous, and informative for in-game things, too)

* * *

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Wild Arms: Alter Code F, the original Wild Arms, the guides and/or LP mentioned above. AFAIK, Wild Arms belongs to Media Vision (can't put the dot in lieu of space), and the guides and/or LP above belonged to their owners/authors. I'm writing this fanfiction for my own amusement/training, and (secondarily) your enjoyment**_

 _ **As it tends to screw my word count, this DISCLAIMER (and "Thanks") applies to the whole story. Thanks.**_

* * *

 **Changelog:**

Sept 24th, 2016:  
\- Changed "Tomb" to "Coffin".  
\- Updated "Thanks".  
\- Added a certain line.

Sept 25th, 2016:  
\- Changed "cartridge" with "Cartridge" (capital vs non-capital letter).  
\- Changed "magician" to "sorceress".

Sept 30th, 2016:  
\- Changed a couple of details, and fixed some typos or missing words.  
\- Added "P.P.S" in A/N.  
\- Edited "Thanks".

* * *

 ** _The crossing fate... This story begins from here._**

It was dark.

He couldn't hear, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak. Warm liquid surrounded him. Dimly, he noticed that his chest wasn't rising or falling; it was still. One sane person would have been panicking had such a thing happened to them; it was all dark, there wasn't a single sound, and immersion in liquid—chances of someone dying because they drowned were high. The fear of drowning alone _should_ have been there, but it wasn't. Strangely enough, only one question mattered to him right now.

Where was he? He couldn't remember where he was…

Even such a question was vague, dim, at best. Deep down, he knew he should have questioned the reason behind such weak reactions, but he didn't. Why, he couldn't even tell. It was like his mind was too relaxed—a state much like when it was under sedation, to even feel such a thing.

…Wait, what _is_ a sedation? How did he know such a thing? He desperately—or as desperate as someone in a half sleep-like state could, to grasp on the questions, but even his efforts weren't enough as said questions slipped his mind.

As he felt like he was floating aimlessly for unknown amount of time, he noticed there were voices somewhere—at last. They were muffled, either from the liquid all around him—including in his ears, or his current state of mind, he didn't know and he didn't care. Feeling his heart warm with the knowledge of something or _someone_ else was there with him brought a strange burst of happiness in his chest.

At least that meant that he wasn't alone…

Even when he couldn't focus his mind, he tried his hardest to listen to the voices, to make out what they were saying.

Grandpa had always told him to listen to people, that it would tell him of the speaker's character. And like a good grandson he was, he would do it.

"How is…going?"

"…nicely… Soon…could even…compatible…ARMs due to… Smaller…Golems…calculations…stronger… of a…"

"Excellent… killer…demons…"

What are they talking about?

 **"What…you doing?"**

 **"…making use…killing… sympathetic…?... not like us…purpose…war…"**

Huh? What—?

 _"…not laying…on him."_

 _"…'him' now… attached… not seen…terrible…done? …created…combat…yet they…destruction…much like…"_

 _"…not like…rest!"_

 _"…shouldn't have…attached to…not like. Arrest…seal... should never…born."_

Then there was a sudden clarity; he could hear voices clearly, like the mufflers were removed. But he wished he didn't hear them.

"Boy, you brought us misery," a voice growled out.

"Monster!" another cried.

"Leave us alone!" another screamed in terror.

 _No…_

"Forbidden, taboo," one hissed, fear and malice underlying beneath the tone.

"Never should have come here," one other whispered.

 _No, no, no, no, no…_

"Freak!"

"It was all your fault!"

 _I… I didn't mean to. I_ didn't _mean to!_

"…dy."

 _…Tony, is it you?_

"I didn't believe them."

 _Really?_

"But then, my dad got sick not long after you came."

 _No… Please, no, Tony…_

"Maybe it _was_ your fault, after all."

 _…!_

* * *

 _Ah!_

One blue-haired boy jolted awake violently, his amber eyes frantically looked around for the nonexistent beings that plagued his dreams. He panted, his heart pounding in his chest, cold perspiration lightly layered his skin. He sighed, placing his bare hand on his chest as his heart calmed. _Just a dream_ , he thought to himself. He threw the covers off, and slid his legs to let the pads of his feet touch the rather cold wooden floor. As he ran his fingers through his damp, blue hair, he stared at articles of his clothing and equipment on the bedside table.

Both of his brown hide gloves were on placed neatly beside each other, his red bandanna lying messily on the furniture's top. His red vest was hung using a hanger made of thin wire near the window, the hook of the hanger hanging to a stray nail on the side of the cupboard by the window. His boots were arranged neatly at the foot of the bed.

The boy sighed as he stood up, walking to the restroom, his bare feet padded softly on the wooden floor. Water wasn't as scarce as it was in Surf here in Adlehyde, so he could easily splash his face with fresh water without fear of running out other people's water. Surf Village wasn't exactly a desolate place, but it wasn't very plentiful in water, either. With how many cattle there were, people had to make most of what water they could find, especially when next to none of the villagers were fit to fight the nearby monsters to reach the larger river, which wasn't all that surprising when the number of capable young (adult) men weren't high.

The young bluenette sighed as the memory of his exile came to the forefront of his mind. He offered what help he could, be it lifting things, cleaning pastures, taking care of the horses (his favorite!) or even repairing a couple of roofs, more often than not declining the villagers' rewards for him when he felt that they needed it more. Yet still, his good deeds were like nonexistent the moment it came to light that he could wield an ARM.

ARMs. Ancient Relic Machines or Artificially Rebirthed Matricide Machines as they were known, weren't something ordinary people could just wield. It was said to be first created with a technology now lost to humans during the Great War against the metal demons—the technology behind it was akin to the technology the metal demons would use. The stories surrounding their creation were mysteries, and it wasn't easy to say which was truer than the other. Some said the ARMs were made by humans and elws to combat demons, some said that the ARMs were based on the demons' technology, some even said that they were created by the demons themselves before Filgaian used the demons' own ARMs to combat them. But as the Great Demon War happened around a millennium prior to present time, it was hard to determine which had the truth, especially when there weren't much of credible records on the War and things surrounding it. Rumor has it, there were people who still sought to restore the ancient weapons.

Despite the rumor, it was hard to find an ARM Meister—especially in smaller towns—people who dedicated themselves to studying, improving or restoring ancient ARMs, over the years. His adopted grandpa was one.

His eyes prickled at the memory. _How I missed you, Grandpa…_

He smacked his cheeks, shaking his head, a few droplets hanging to the tips of his blue hair were sprayed to the walls, the mirror, the door, even when the signs of being wet weren't visible. He inhaled, and exhaled, trying to cheer himself up even when he knew it was a lost cause anyway.

Deciding not the dwell in the past, he strode out and into the bedroom, slipping his gloves on while at the same time slipping his feet to his boots. He stomped one foot after the other as he fitted his gloves securely. When the gloves were snug, he reached down to ensure his boots were secure. His cheeks took a pink tint when he remembered a certain incident he would rather not recall involving a certain footwear, a small rock, and a certain monster.

Needless to say, his grandpa—bless his soul—spent the rest of the day trying to hold back laughter to no avail.

The bluenette took the belt he used to store special bullets (or Cartridges), and slung it over one shoulder before fastening it. He made sure to keep the bullets out of view; it didn't take a genius to know what it was for. He took his red vest from the hanger and wore it over his white shirt, hiding said bullets from view. He patted himself, combing his oddly colored hair with his gloved fingers before fastening his red bandanna on his head.

He took his ARM, the Hand Cannon, placed it on both hands like a sword when it was being presented to a king, and sat crossed legs on the floor. He inhaled.

Now, he was ready.

May Shikador bless him this time... He knew his journey was still long; he would need it.

* * *

Jack Van Burace grumbled. So much for good ruins… He had to spend several freaking hours in that hole full of traps. Let's not forget about those sharp spikes emerging out of nowhere barely missing his person (and tearing tiny holes into his coat—damn them), and oh let's not forget those flamethrowers that almost cooked both him and his faithful wind mouse companion Hanpan, and the great cherry on top of them all—those boulders. The things were _huge_ , leaving barely an inch of space and thus forcing him to run for his life (well, his and Hanpan's).

Did he mention that he was once (or twice) chased by at least two of them?

His belly rumbled, and he looked disdainfully at the offending organ. Running around, using his brains to come up with solutions for the ruins' puzzles seem to burn his calories so fast. That, or time flew faster than he thought. No matter. What mattered was he needed to eat _right now_ before he collapsed from starvation.

At the mere thought of it, his stomach growled once more. The treasure hunter placed his left hand on it. "I swear those elw ruins _loved_ to force us humans to run around, starving us to the death from running around like blind mice in a maze."

He could hear Hanpan quietly snickering in his breast pocket. He subtly glared at the creature through the cloth. "Oh, shut up. Like you won't be starving if you ran around so much with no food in your stomach." He approached the counter to order his food (large portion) before taking a seat farther from most people to ensure some space to talk to his companion.

Hanpan knew better than to answer when they were too near of other people, and thus kept quiet until Jack was seated. After which, he spent no time to retort, "Hey, watch it; I'm no mere mouse."

Jack waved him off, keeping the body language and movements to a minimum to preserve his dignity as a sane man talking to a talking wind mouse. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Besides, it was I who did most of the thinking," said wind mouse said smugly.

"What did you say?!"

"Careful, Jack, people are going to think you're losing your mind."

The man glanced covertly around using his peripheral vision, and cursed both himself and the wind mouse. Said wind mouse was basking his victory silently in the pocket of the thought-to-be-mad man.

* * *

Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde glanced up when she heard a man exclaiming loudly, as if on the verge of fighting. But she saw no one he was talking to, and he quickly calmed down, and thus she brushed him off. Maybe he was remembering something or heard someone else wrong. Oh well, not her business.

Her current business here wasn't as the princess of the kingdom, however. Her business here was to buy some good chow mein. That was right. She was here for food. Her travels weren't as peaceful as she thought it would be. Instead, her knowledge on Crest Sorcery was tested as various monsters attacked both her and people she had been travelling with. While the monsters weren't all that strong, it was the frequency of the attacks and their numbers that wore them all down.

By the time they reached the outskirts of Downtown Adlehyde, the whole of small caravan was ready to grovel and praise the Guardian of Luck (if such a Guardian even existed). Cecilia had bade farewell to them, and entered the inn in pursue of some good food to quench her magic-induced hunger. She was kind of happy that she needn't hide her (first) name; people didn't exactly recognize her as she had changed a lot, and "Cecilia" wasn't as rare as people thought it was. Though if her father was to see her, he'd know; she looked like her mother. But as the queen passed away long ago, it was not surprising that people didn't actually recognize her anymore. The fact that the inn's cook and waiters were from outside of Adlehyde made hiding her true identity a lot easier.

As she tapped her finger to the wooden table, she noted a young man entering the bar/restaurant half of the inn from the stairs—looked like he stayed here for the night before. He wore faded blue jeans, scruffy with a tear here and there, boots, and a red bandanna. He wore light colored cloak, concealing most of his torso. Though it was somewhat odd, it wasn't all that odd to see someone, especially if that person was a Dream Chaser—which he likely was—to wear something like that, especially with the desserts of Filgaia. The princess found his hair color to be odd, though; it was blue. Really, really blue. It even reflected the light a bit on certain angles as his head moved. Cecilia had never seen such a hair color before. Not _that_ shade of blue, anyway.

The young woman found herself staring at a confused pair of amber orbs, and she realized that she was staring. She blushed as she forced herself to stare at her table instead. When she felt his gaze was no longer on her, she discreetly tried to peek another look.

He had taken a seat on the table near her, the seat furthest from hers. She felt Schturdark whispering in her mind, _the boy is an odd one. Odd, but not malevolent._ Cecilia couldn't help but whisper as low as she could, barely moving her lips, "What do you mean?"

 _Child of Shikador…_

Shikador… That name wasn't very often mentioned, even in the books of the vast library of Curran Abbey. It was said to be a forgotten creature of legend, a being that was almost a Guardian in terms of powers. Her form was said to be a human-like white deer, a creature possessing great powers of nature, exceeding even that of an elw's. She abhorred wars, and the only reason she helped during the Great War was because the creature hated the metal demons even more. She helped the Filgaians during the Great Demon War by creating tools of war with her alchemic powers, but when the demons learned of her existence, she was killed. Her powers were thought to be power over alchemy, and restoration, and people who could use alchemy or manipulate energies without the use of tools or mediums were called as her chosen, her children.

Though many would doubt that claim, seeming as no one had ever seen one with such powers. Even records of her were thought to be not authentic, works of a fanatic of hers.

 _Your encounter was fateful, Shaman. Perhaps, you'll need his aid—and others'—to combat the looming threat._

"I don't understand…"

The water Guardian didn't reply her.

Cecilia sighed. Sometimes she wished the Guardian was more forthcoming with what he wanted her to do. As she was lost in thought at Schturdark's words, she blinked in surprise when her order of chow meins were placed on the table before her.

Oh well, one could not think when they were starving, right?

* * *

Jack, whatever his current (or possible former) professions are, knew that staring at people when they were eating was _not_ polite. But it wasn't all that easy as people thought it was when the person you were staring at was eating _at least_ three people's portion. Especially when the one eating was a _young woman_.

"Jack, it's impolite to stare," Hanpan hissed from his pocket. Jack grimaced when the wind mouse spoke. He tried his best to hold back his grimace, but he couldn't hide it—not completely. And the treasure hunter could have sworn that Hanpan actually felt his flinch. "Oh, it's even worse when you _knew_ you're doing something wrong."

That little—! He just had to mention it, didn't he?

"Well, I'd like to see you in my shoes, dear partner," he hissed back, trying to be as discreet as possible, averting his gaze from the young lady devouring in a not-so-lady-like behavior at least four plates of chow mein, if memory served correctly.

"Well, Jack, I can't exactly _be in your shoes_ , considering your shoe size. And I know it's a figure of speech; I was just teasing you."

One Jack Van Burace swore under his breath. If Hanpan wasn't his close companion, he would have chopped the wind mouse into tiny pieces using his Fast Draw techniques _long_ ago.

* * *

Rudy Roughnight wasn't a stranger to strange sights. He had seen monsters looking like animals, monsters _not_ looking like animals or people, or even monsters which he didn't even want to know what they looked like with. But the young blue haired boy hadn't seen a magician/spell caster/Crest Sorceress in his whole life, and considering he was mostly wandering around in smaller villages, it wasn't all that hard to believe. Thus, it was the first time for him to see someone eating around two or three people's portion all by themselves. It was even weirder given that the one eating was a young lady.

He knew it was impolite to do so, however, and thus he averted his eyes as soon as he could. He, of all people, could understand why people didn't like other people stare at them; it was like you were being judged by people who hardly knew you. No matter how badly treated he was, his upbringing with his (adopted) Grandpa made sure that he treated people as nicely or as politely as he could.

As he averted his eyes, his own order of a simple breakfast consisting of a loaf of bread, a small plate of scrambled egg, and a small glass of milk (for the nutrients) arrived. He nodded and smiled slightly at the waiter in thanks. He wasn't mute, oh far from it, but he preferred to save his breath. His voice wasn't even loud in the first place, and given his seclusion from other children his age in his childhood, he barely spoke. Old habits die really, _really_ hard, and his lack of speech was one of those hard-to-die habits. As such, people thought he was mute.

Well, maybe because he never bothered to correct people that they thought he _actually was a mute_.

He nibbled his bread, savoring it as much as he could. Dream Chasers, also known as Migratory Birds, rarely got the luxury of tasty food; they tend to be forced to rely on their wit, and mother nature. Not that mother nature would provide them with enough food; the young Dream Chaser knew that, ever since he first saw his grandpa being forced not to eat enough for a certain day, all for the sake of his then-very-young body. He had asked his grandpa to eat more, even offering his portion of the food for the elder man, but he only smiled knowingly and refused it stubbornly.

When he asked him, the man only said, _it is better to feed the young bird than it is to feed an old one._ He hadn't understood him, but his grandpa only ruffled his hair, much to his chagrin.

 _Enough reminiscing,_ he admonished himself. _I need to pack up for another journey._

There was a certain more vigor in his eyes after that. Not much, but it should be enough until the young Dream Chaser had found somewhere else to rest his wings.

* * *

Cecilia didn't know why her eating habits were so weird that she felt so many eyes on her. It wasn't _all that_ weird, right? Casting magic was actually a lot more draining than people thought it was. Well, now that she thought about it, perhaps it was because these people weren't used to seeing magic casters, it _could_ be the reason of all those odd stares.

…Scratch that. It _definitely_ was the source of all the staring.

The princess gulped down a glass of water as fast as she could while being subtle, leaving a couple gella for the payment (and tip), and promptly left the inn.

Those stares unnerved her more than she thought.

* * *

Rudy patted his pockets and torso to ensure he left nothing behind; he couldn't afford to. His gella, his berries, the supplies he had just purchased in town, and his Cartridges. Oh, and his ARM, sitting in its holster on his right hip. But no one sane would steal that thing, so he had no need to worry; the stigma and labels were _bad_ in most places that it discouraged people from even thinking about it. Its unique trait of user-ARM synchronization made it pretty much useless to steal, too.

 _Now where should I go next? I haven't heard of another town nearby…_ He glanced around. _Maybe I should ask around?_

He glanced around. The downtown of Adlehyde wasn't really bustling with activity, but it wasn't empty either; there were people going here and there, entering one building or another. The buildings were made mostly of stone, and wood. He saw various symbols for shops; one for Crest Graphs—if his memory served, some bars or restaurants, what looked like cemetery directly north from the gates. If his eyes didn't deceive him, he even noticed one building with a particular symbol of a certain weapon that not one people entered.

Heck, the castle walls even astounded him. They just looked _so_ strong…

But first thing's first.

 _Hmm… So many places. Adlehyde really is big. Where should I go ask first?_

He was just taking a step, when he heard the yelling.

"We have an emergency! There was an accident at the site!"

 _—What?! Please, great Guardians, not them, too…_

* * *

Jack stared at the empty plate before him, having finished eating (and discreetly sharing his food with Hanpan; being discreet _wasn't_ a must, but he'd rather be safe than sorry, especially when he was _so damn tired right now_ ). Seeing that ridiculous portion of food the girl ate actually reminded him of the camaraderie he used to share with _them_ , back before it all began.

 _Damn him for hiding it from us,_ he cursed the deceased man mentally with all his heart. He gritted his teeth, _he brought them upon us, because of that, she…she…_ He slammed his clenched fist on the table as hard as he could while suppressing his anger. _I need power!_ _I. Need. Power!_

In his breast pocket, his wind mouse companion was silent. The small intelligent creature knew better than to ruin Jack's musings. _Grieving,_ he corrected. _Jack didn't tell me much of his past, but I could feel his grief exude him in waves…_ Hanpan silently pressed himself slightly to the human's torso. _Jack… If only you knew how much I wished you to tell me what was wrong with you, partner…_

Alas, their possible bonding moments were ruined when they heard a commotion from outside of the inn, thanks to another entering customer opening the inn's door.

"—emergency! There was an accident at the site!"

Hanpan knew he probably shouldn't have, but Jack probably would be upset with him if he didn't inform him anyway. He nudged him, whispering, "Partner!"

Apparently, he need not bothered as the treasure hunter had already stood up, making his way out of the inn. "On it."

As Jack opened the door, he saw three people wearing white shirts (or collared shirts), along with brown vest, brown trousers, dusty dark shoes, with their necks adorned with black ties. One was rather bald, while the other was carrying someone else, piggy-back, also wearing similar apparel as the two. "It's gotten out of control!" one exclaimed, "We need to let Emma know!"

They were talking rather rapidly that it took Jack a little while before he actually understood what they were saying. By the moment he could make heads and tails of _what_ could possibly be out of control, they had already left him in the dust.

"Poor him," Hanpan remarked, having peeked from his vest. "Being carried like that and then forgotten like he wasn't even there…" Jack nodded in agreement.

Poor him, indeed.

"What do you think went out of control?" Hanpan asked.

Jack smirked, "Maybe something possessing great powers, and hard to control?"

Hanpan could hear it coming. "Are you saying, something like _Absolute Power_?"

Jack's smirk told the peeking Hanpan all he needed to know. And by know, he knew that telling Jack not to get his hopes up would be for naught, and thus decided to see what would unfold first.

But, Jack wasn't the only one who heard it.

Cecilia, having just left the Crest Graph shop, also heard the commotion. She even got the privilege of having them dash right in front of her eyes. She blinked. One of them was carrying another full grown man, and boy, weren't they _fast_.

She shook her head. Her father could wait for a little bit; he shouldn't be expecting her until tomorrow—tonight at the earliest, anyway.

Now, where was this "Emma"?

* * *

The longer it was, the harder it was for him to deny that the accident at the Lolithia's Coffin, wherever that was, had nothing to do with him. He sighed, dropping his head as he made his way to the nearest shop to think (and maybe ask) where Lolithia's Coffin could be.

However, as he walked north—the same path leading to the cemetery, a particularly strong gust blew, lifting his cloak just enough for his ARM to be seen by other people. The bluenette felt his heart pound faster, hoping that no one would pay attention to him.

"A boy with ARM… I tend to grow suspicious when I saw something resembling an 'ARM'," someone commented rather snidely.

Rudy felt his heart, and his hopes with it, plummet.

But the other man shrugged, even when his rather snide expression didn't exactly fade. "Oh well, it couldn't actually be functional; people can't just pick up the thing and use it." _If only you knew…_ "Anyway, I heard there are people who specialize in the profession of ARM modification… I think they are called 'ARM Meisters.' From what I heard, they're always busy—which is really odd, considering no one could use a real ARM nowadays. I'm just not into keeping myself too busy all the time. I don't know how anyone can so passionate," he mused, his expression calming somewhat.

Rudy averted his eyes as politely as he could; he couldn't risk another conflict with people just because of his ARM, and so decided to play it safe. _So, there are still other ARM Meisters in other towns, too? Sounds good; if I could get in their shop without anyone else noticing, that is._ He pretended to be looking for a road sign, while in truth he was looking around, checking if anyone was looking. _But I don't have the time… I really think Hand Cannon needs some upgrade and some finer maintenance, which I still couldn't do, and I still need to head out anyway._ He swallowed, and steeled himself. _Here goes._

The bluenette braced himself before knocking and opening the door to the building with the firearm symbol.

"Excuse me," he muttered in a near whisper. See, he _did_ speak; it was just _waay_ too silent for someone to actually hear him.

The moment the door was closed behind him, he heard rapid footsteps coming from the inside of the shop(?). "A moment!" someone called out.

As the shopkeeper/ARM Meister showed up, he greeted cheerfully, "Welcome!" A quick glance told the Meister why the boy was in his shop. "Let me upgrade your ARM! Dr. Emma even studies under me! Heh heh heh," he grinned.

Rudy didn't know what was funny, but he knew better than to be polite, so he smiled a small polite smile indulgently. "Um, please do," he replied, automatically bowing slightly, reaching to release his ARM from its holster.

Surprisingly, the older man heard him, "Well, thank you, my boy," he cheerfully replied, "Though I'll have you know that upgrading ARMs are _not_ cheap."

Rudy withdrew a rather small pouch of gella from underneath the cloak with his other hand, and showed it, "Would these do?"

The Meister scrutinized it as politely as he could at that distance; it wouldn't do to scare his first customer in a _very_ long time. "Hmm…" Recognizing his attempt to calculate the precise amount, the boy handed him the pouch. "Thanks." He opened the pouch. It wasn't much, and he told the boy so.

His reply was, "Please do what you can with them," and he handed over his ARM.

The ARM Meister, Abott, had to control himself not to gape wide eyed at the sight of the weapon. Sure, he saw a glint of the metallic barrel, but boy, the thing's _big_ ; bigger than any other functional ARMs he had seen. As he took the ARM, he could tell it was complex, and thus was powerful. _Just **who** is this boy?_

But he had to be professional. "Wait a moment; I'll get this done in a jiffy…." He trailed off.

Catching on, the bluenette supplied, "Rudy."

"Right, Rudy. It'll be done soon."

Rudy nodded. _This is going to take a while…_

That reminded him…

"Ah, do you know where Lolithia's Coffin is?"

"That place? Somewhere up north, I think. Dr. Emma kept muttering about it the other day."

 _North… Got it._ "Thanks," he murmured.

"No problem, but do me and everyone else a favor; speak louder if you want people to hear you. At the rate you're talking in, people would've thought you're a mute."

Rudy blushed. _Well, they kind of **already** did._

* * *

It took Cecilia some time, but she finally learned where this Dr. Emma was; she was currently in the basement of a shop of an 'ARM Meister'. And, ironically enough, just several buildings away from the inn. _Then, why were they running in that other direction?_ she thought, but she shrugged the question off just as quickly. _Maybe they were taking the other person to the hospital. I can't remember where it was, though…_

As she approached the shop, she noticed the boy from earlier (from the inn, that oddly colored hair made him stood out) leaving, walking quite a little fast if he wasn't in a hurry. And purposefully, too.

 _What was he doing in that place?_ Cecilia wondered, but she didn't have the time to wonder about such a thing. As she approached the door, she noticed the other man staring at her in the inn was also approaching the door. She decided to turn her head slightly to make sure that she didn't mistake him, and to clue him in. _If he also wanted to help Dr. Emma, maybe it would be best if we were to band together. Though, I don't know what he would think of an apparently helpless girl._

Unbeknownst to her, Jack was also thinking the same thing.

Well, in his case, it was Hanpan who remarked about that girl first, saying, "That looks like a shop that deals with ARMs, and if I'm not mistaken, so far there isn't any humans known to wield an ARM."

"So, you're saying she might be there for the same reason as we do."

"Exactly."

"You think she's also after _Absolute Power_?"

The wind mouse contemplated both Jack's inquiry, and the girl's behavior. After a short observation, he concluded, "I don't think so, though I can't be sure; she looked more like a magician to me. It is best to keep an eye on her, just in case."

That, Jack had no qualms.

It was awkward, to say the least. Two people, both of the opposite gender, standing next to each other, trying to be discreet (discreet to other people, and to the other) and failing at it; they both knew that they were being watched by the other, but neither had the courage to say the first words. If it wasn't for the fact that ARMs Meisters were considered odd bunches of people that general populace tends to avoid, they would have attracted _a lot_ of attention.

As it was, they were _already_ attracting attention; standing awkwardly next to each other, right in front of a door, no less. The silence between the two was so deafening that Hanpan felt like he was going mad.

The wind mouse was on the verge of snapping, when Cecilia cleared her throat awkwardly. "You're here for the Lolithia's Coffin accident, aren't you?" She asked so tentatively, like she was treading on cracking monster eggs with Mama monster nearby.

Jack was all too happy to follow her lead. "Of course! That name reminded me of another name that elw in the ruins mentioned."

It was Cecilia's turn to look at him. She turned her face so fast that she could've sworn she should have gotten a backlash. "Really?" She asked, interest piqued, "you saw an elw?"

The blond treasure hunter scratched the back of his neck sheepishly before correcting himself, "Well, more like a hologram of one. It said something about Lolithia, and I thought it would be worth looking. Helping other people in the process is just another bonus."

"You're looking for Dr. Emma, right?" Even Hanpan could tell that the girl was _perking. "_ Let's go together, then."

Jack shrugged. "Why not?" And without wasting time, Jack grasped the door handle, and opened it. Cecilia was courteous enough to mutter an "excuse us" while Jack just strode in. The building was strangely empty, save from occasional sounds from various machinery around them.

Then, they heard a man from behind the desk speaking, "That was pretty quick, Rudy; is there something else I could help you with? Don't tell me its mechanism is faulty—" Then his face popped out from behind the desk, and his eyebrows immediately furrowed. "Uh..." His index finger moved back and forth between the two of them. "Let me guess, you wanted to see Dr. Emma?"

Jack nodded while Cecilia verbally answered him, "Yes, sir. We were informed that she's here...?" She trailed off.

Abott jerked his thumb in the direction of stairs leading to the basement. "She's down there. Been making a couple of ruckus about collapsing sites, monsters, and what not."

Jack threw a quick "thanks" for the two of them as they strode to the stairs and climbed down.

* * *

Emma Hetfield was _not_ having a good day. The festival was just a day away, they were already burning daylight, and they still had some obstacles that prevented Lolithia, that darling ice-elemental golem, from being extracted from its coffin. The scientist paced, trying to think of what to do; walls on the site had collapsed, no thanks to that massive earthquake that early morning (or dead night, depending on who you ask), and monsters slipped in through the newly created holes.

"By Moa Gault's flames, what are we going to do; the festival begins tomorrow, and with the monsters there, and the workers have no experience in fighting monsters…" She paced, her mind whirring. "We haven't even accessed the actual chamber that contained Lolithia. Who to hire, who to hire...?"

"Excuse us, are you Dr. Emma?" A feminine voice asked.

The scientist paused her pacing, turning to face the speaker. She saw two people, a man and a woman (who was younger than him) standing. The young woman looked like someone from the Abbey. Hmm... Speaking of the Abbey, didn't the princess also went there? "Yes?" she asked.

"We heard about your problems with the site, and we'd like to help," Jack stated.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then that's great; I assume you—" she directed the statement at Jack "—are a Dream Chaser—from your looks, and have some experience fighting monsters, to boot. While you—" this, she directed at Cecilia "—looked like a Crest Sorceress." She didn't even pause before deciding. "Very well. I guess I could hire you to go clear up the ruins. However, the ruins is a dangerous place, so I hope you're prepared." Their faces brightened. _Looks like they were interested mainly in Lolithia..._ "I could pay you for—"

"Dr. Emma!" The three turned, as someone ran in. "There was someone reported entering the ruins without authorization!"

Emma positively exploded. "What did you say?!"

* * *

 _This probably isn't the smartest of ideas,_ Rudy thought, shooting yet another monster in the face (well he was aiming for the monster's eye, but hey, it worked either way), killing it in the process. He could see the entrance to the Lolithia's Coffin, people gathering around the gates fearfully. He tightened his ARM holster around his hip, reloading the weapon before placing it back, hiding it from view under his cloak. _Grandpa would admonish me for going to place that is obviously dangerous all on my own._ He gritted his teeth, looking down at his covered ARM. _But it was my fault the earthquake happened in the first place..._

He creeped slowly, all the while trying to be inconspicuous of it; people tend to suspect you more if you looked like you're in the process of doing something suspicious, after all. But it wasn't very easy, as he was still showing signs of hurried travel; he was practically jogging almost all the way from Adlehyde. As he neared the gathered slowly behind the rocks...at his covered ARM. _But it was my fault; I had to make up to these people somehow...ht he wa, he tried to get his breathing into a more manageable level, and eavesdrop on their discussions.

"What are we going to do? There are still the others in there," one asked his fellow worker beside him.

As the bluenette heard it, it made him feel even guiltier. His resolve to enter the ruins was getting bigger by the moment, but he still had to find some way or another to slip in—no doubt they wouldn't just let some random kid enter. As he looked around, one of the workers called to the others, "We should head back to Adlehyde; at least to patch up the injured…"

A few of his fellows nodded their heads in agreement. What they didn't voice was they were scared of the monsters escaping the ruins and attacking them afterward.

 _Now's my chance,_ the young ARM wielder thought. He quickly searched for some large boulders to hide behind, and the moment he found them, he moved as silently and as quickly as he could. He kept his ears trained on the people's voices, tracking their movements from the sound they created as they slowly left the ruins. When he thought he was in the clear, he sneaked a look, and noticed that they were already walking away from the ruins.

"Wait, let me close the ruins; it wouldn't do for some other people to enter the ruins before Dr. Emma or we come back here," one of them said.

It sent a chill through his veins, and he knew he had to act _now_. Now, people had thought that Rudy possessed strength beyond normal people his age, but he wasn't agile nor quick. When the doors started to close, he bolted.

As he ran as fast as he could, he could hear them shouting at him to stop. "Wait, what are you doing? Stop!" But he didn't stop. He couldn't, not when he had to.

Within two seconds of stepping inside the ruins, the doors clanged shut behind him. However, right before the doors were shut, he heard a chilling revelation, "Stop the doors!"

"I can't! The lever jammed!"

"Wha—?!" Then they were cut off.

 _Well, there's no turning back now…_ The bluenette took out his ARM, and deciding his cloak useless for the time being, he took it off and place the piece of old cloth near the doors, making sure to bring his essentials, namely, spare bullets and Cartridges. His amber eyes sharpened with determination as he heard the growls of monsters. _I hope I could help this time around._

* * *

"What do you mean, someone is inside the ruins?"

It was the first time they met Emma, but they didn't think she would get _that_ mad. The obviously more muscled man was even shuffling his feet around, his index finger pressing together like some child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"It was some suspicious blue haired boy," he continued. "He slipped right in before the doors closed and the lever jammed."

Emma inhaled, trying to calm herself, not that it yielded much result. But even a little was better than nothing. "And there are other workers trapped there as well." He bopped his head. The scientist could feel a headache coming. She massaged the bridge of her nose, and continued exasperatedly, "Tell me, then, why did you close the ruins in the first place?" He was opening his mouth to answer when she cut him off anyway. "Never mind, I don't want to know. I'll deal with this. Off you go."

With how quickly he scurried off, it wasn't hard to say that he preferred not to be in her presence right now…

Not that Jack (or Hanpan) or Cecilia would like to be on the receiving end of such temper. **NO** , thank you very much!

The scientist sighed before turning at the two. "I'm very sorry about this. But would you still like to help me clear out the ruins, and help out those people? I _could_ still pay you for a thousand gella each."

Cecilia and Jack exchanged looks, seemingly communicating without words even without much movements from their facial muscles.

"Alright," Jack answered her, a very, _very_ slight impression of hesitation underlying his voice—he wouldn't admit it was hesitation, though. It was a mix of emotions that were mixed so bad that it was impossible to tell the dominant one.

Mistaking it for purely doubt, Emma immediately added, "Of course, I'll be coming with you. Can't have those people stranded there. And I need to know who slipped in." She clapped her hands. "Well, considering this endeavor is becoming even more important, or even more dangerous, I'll give the two of you time to prepare. The Coffin is north of here. I'll be waiting for you at the Coffin's entrance." And she was off, all the while muttering about troublesome workers and troublesome ruins.

Jack sighed in relief. He was so sure that they were going to be receiving her anger, too. His eyes were no longer mischievous; there were lives on the line, and he knew better than anyone (or so he thought) about how precious a life is.

As Jack was growing determined, Cecilia wondered, _was that young man I saw when we entered here the one slipping in? He certainly fit the description… How did he travel so fast?_

However, there was one thing that slipped the princess' mind; the ARM Meister spoke of the young teen ("Rudy," as he called the bluenette) like he was a customer of the Meister's. But that shouldn't be possible, except if the young man _could wield an ARM._

* * *

 ** _Well, this is me again. I KNEW I shouldn't be doing this, but Wild Arms (and thus its remake along with it) holds a certain nostalgic place in my heard as the one introducing me to awesome opening cutscene with awesome music before Final Fantasy. That's right, I first played this (well, my brother played it while I watched him) when I was in gradeschool, and it was my favorite. And thus seeing how small the fanfiction number for the franchise actually made me wanna cry. I STILL can't create a completely original decent plot, so this is what I cooked up._**

 ** _I'm trying to keep track of what happened, so I use Visio to create the timeline (it's more like blocks arranged like a line, really). This is loosely based on the game (Psycho_Crack's and Krysmphoenix's works helped me, a LOT)_**

 ** _Hopefully, I can finish this, all the way until post game. Hope you like it, and please do tell me what you think._**

 ** _C. Rinkuki Takato_**

 ** _P.S.  
This started out as 6.7k chapter. After self-proofreading, it's around 7.4k long..._**

 ** _P.P.S.  
Still can't believe Rudy has the same voice actor as FFVII's Zack... Still can't believe it. If you want to hear the party's voice, look up Splitplaythru's Force combination arts(?) video. For other characters' voice acting, see the game's details at metacritic._**


	2. Lolithia's Coffin 1

_**She has lain in the coffin since 1,000 years ago.**_

The thundering roar of an ARM firing drowned the monster's pained scream of death. The monster tried to commit one last act of defiance; growling, the weirdly shaped quadruple monster twitched. The young Dream Chaser didn't want to take a risk—not with other lives at stake, thus he shot it once more, and upon seeing it falling completely limp, he waited for a short moment or two to make sure it stayed dead. It didn't give so much as twitch anymore, and he concluded it really was dead. As Rudy lowered his ARM, easing out of his stance, the people he had been protecting freaked out.

Which, now that he thought about it, was something that (unfortunately) had happened quite often to him.

"He's not normal, run!" they screamed as they ran for their lives. Not that they needed to.

The bluenette raised his other arm as if to reach out to the people, but before words even escaped his open mouth, there was no one to listen to him anyway. He sighed. He couldn't be sure, but if he was correct, those people weren't from Adlehyde—hired workers from outside the castle city. It was just a guess, but it wasn't hard to come to that conclusion when they looked nothing like the knights, and most of the people he had seen in the short time he had been in the Downtown Adlehyde. And based from their reaction, he'd bet his precious Cartridge (his only one, no less) that they were from villages like Surf; viewing people or objects through the lenses of superstition and myths, not even bothering to check whether or not said superstition/myths were true.

 _It's okay; maybe people actually from Adlehyde won't react like them, like that Abott person,_ he thought, trying to cheer himself.

It didn't lessen the sting of watching people run away from him in fear, though. He had always wanted to be accepted among other people ever since he was a kid—his lifelong dream, but well, that dream hadn't come true thus far. He had been a tad too different for the liking of people in the towns he had visited so far. The young Dream Chaser thought about chasing after them, but thought against it; if he recalled correctly, he was just 'scratching' the Coffin, so they _should_ be able to find their way out. That, and ran the same way he had come from.

Unlike some other people that might be deeper inside.

To be frank, he didn't even know if there still _were_ people inside this 'Coffin', but he'd rather not risk other people's life just because he thought the area was clear. He sighed once again as he gathered energy to reload the Hand Cannon (and some more for spares, too); he used up his bullets killing that last monster. His technique still wasn't good enough as he tended to spend an itty bitty too long to form the projectiles, and he found that the monsters here were tougher than those in the Berry Cave. It couldn't hurt to be careful; his supply of Heal Berry was starting to get depleted.

He was lucky his ARM's ordinary bullets were actually created using energy; he tended to create a bunch of them to ensure that he could reload as fast as he could whip open the chambers, slotting the pre-created bullets, slapped the chambers back to their place, and pulling the trigger. As such, he had no worries about running out of bullets forever. His grandpa looked astonished when he first formed his ( _very, very_ tiny) ball of projectile, but the old man merely said that it was a gift of his when he asked what was with his face. On the other hand, while his Cartridge's bullets were also created from energy, it had to be condensed to a certain composition and levels, and he tended to pass out right after.

So, it was not practical so 'refill' his Cartridge when there was nowhere to sleep safely.

He spared a glance at the dead monster—Empusa, if he wasn't mistaken, before he trotted to look for other people.

Rudy slowed to a walk almost as soon as he had trotted; he found that his steps could echo, and as such could alert the monsters of his position. In the harsh world Filgaia, even something trivial like footsteps could make a difference in whether or not you're attacked by monsters. And he had no time to lose, so he'd rather avoid what enemies he could. He walked down a slope, and found two small chests. Blinking in wonder, the teen made quick glances on his perimeter before slowly approaching the chest on the left. Grandpa taught him that many chests might not be as harmless as they looked, and he still took that lesson to heart. He knocked gently on the material—it was definitely not ordinary wood, and after checking as thoroughly (while being gentle) as he could, he tried to pry it open. Much to his dismay, he found that he could not open it, and the material was too hard for him to break, even with his abnormally high strength.

He sighed, feeling rather put out. If only he had some explosives…

Wait, he _actually had some_! Trying to suppress his hopes from getting too high, he took out one magical bomb—he was so lucky that the bombs were magical that they never ran out (as long as he supplied it with a little energy, that is; he suspected it worked similarly with how he created his bullets), and placed one carefully right on top of the chest. He connected his heart to it, much like how he operated his ARM, and will the fuse to lit.

Not a minute later, his one Cartridge became two. Oh, and he got these strange cards from the other chest that also got blasted along with that one (he was embarrassed to say that he miscalculated a bit). They might not be of use to him now, but he couldn't just leave them lying around like that. And some other people in the city _maybe_ could make use of them.

Rudy still couldn't wrap his head on how an ARM Cartridge could end up in a place like Lolithia's Coffin. From the looks of things, he could say that Lolithia's Coffin was pretty old, maybe even dating the days of the Demon War, if the stories were to be believed. But it housed a golem.

What does an _ARM Cartridge_ have to do with _golems_?

He shrugged. Well, better not to look at a gift horse in the mouth… He eyed the Cartridge in wonder—what could this one do? It had around three charges/uses before he would have to reload it. He wanted to test it out, but he couldn't afford to attract even more attention to his current location; the bomb and his previous battle were already bad enough. Now, if there was any enemy he could attack while benefiting him (or the people he was trying to safe), that was another story.

Speak of the devil; no sooner than he walked a step after the thought, he heard a distant scream somewhere deeper in the Coffin.

Well, looked like there were still people to safe, and he'd get a chance to test out his new Cartridge—and name it in the process, too. He ran, brandishing his ARM, and shooting at the monsters getting in his way, stepping aside and avoiding them when he could, shooting them to force them to make way when he couldn't.

Another Empusa suddenly ambushed him from the side, catching him off guard. The bluenette barely had enough time to shift to a defensive position, using his ARM to take the brunt of the attack before the monster smacked him. He grunted as he skidded back. That kinda hurt, but not by much; he didn't need to use any curatives right now. As the Empusa leapt back slightly, hissing, he closed an eye, focusing his sight and carefully (but quickly) aimed at the creature's (what he thought to be) weak point.

He couldn't explain it, but there were times when he took a careful aim like this that his shot _never_ missed. He didn't have the luxury of using it often, though; monsters seemed to be able to tell that he was about to attack and tended to attack him right before he could aim accurately.

Not that his quick aim was anything to laugh about; on normal, rather slow monsters, he could hit them in the human equivalent of forehead, even though he might still miss the center by an inch or two.

But hey, at least the shot landed, right?

He let out a shot at the creature's one eye, piercing the organ, and causing the creature to bleed as it screeched. He shot it once more before darting away and running pass it, not bothering to even check if the monster was dead.

One could not blame him; with Filgaia's deterioration, monsters tend to mutate to adapt, and as a result, they tended to get stronger and more vicious as food was getting rarer, and rarer; even in under twenty years, he had found that monsters had gotten stronger since the last time he tagged along with his grandpa, passing through these areas.

He was really lucky to be able to wield an ARM.

Not that most people he had met thought that way, though.

He was snapped from his reverie when another monster—this time a Gomoratoad jumped at him. Surprised, he reflexively pulled the trigger. Twice.

Poor oversized frog-like monster found its eyes blown off. It screeched in pain and anger, thoroughly pissed off that its intended target was apparently not as helpless as it thought he was.

It didn't even get another chance to think about anything else as a bullet penetrated its skull through its open maw, killing it instantly.

The bluenette shook his head, almost slipping on the monster's pool of blood as a result. He blushed, even though there was no one to witness his blunder. He couldn't help it that this recent incident was so similar to the one that he experienced back when he was younger.

Yep, the very same one where his grandpa couldn't hold back his laughter, much to his embarrassment.

 _What would Grandpa think if he could see me just then?_ He wondered. Somehow, the teen got the impression that he would be laughing his head off.

He groaned in dismay as he blasted another leaping Empusa's eye. The bluenette then mentally shook his head—he wasn't going to repeat his mistake of letting his mind wander in the middle of a monster-invested area like this. Damn, those monsters were ample targets for trying out his new Cartridge, and he killed them with his usual bullets. And he had wanted to try out his new Cartridge as soon as possible. Pity.

He skidded to a halt, his path blocked by what looked like a solid steel/stone door behind what looked like green-slab/panel thingy. He walked around the green slab/panel and looked up and down the door, trying to find some clue from it. He had to find a way to pass; he could (barely) hear terrified people's voices behind the door. When he found no clue, he turned his eyes on the room; there were two pillars shaped like a blue egg/orb and another one in red, with considerable distance between them.

…Wait, what were those on the panel?

Rudy, unable to suppress his curiosity, walked to the panel. He felt like bashing his forehead on the panel upon finding the clue he needed: _"These pillars are the sleeping grave keepers. When these two pillars awake, the path will be opened."_

 _Well, that was pretty straightforward,_ he thought. He approached the blue one, and examined the structure. Try as he might, the young Dream Chaser couldn't find a switch on any of its surface, and he certainly didn't see any press tile around. _If these were living beings, I'd probably slap them awake…_ Slapping them awake… It gave him an idea. _Wait… Maybe…_ He punched the structure lightly, watching as it glowed dimly before going out. _Well, there's our answer; they need to be 'awakened' by force, at the same time._

Feeling cheered up for figuring out the puzzle, he lined up bombs from one pillar to the other with a bit of space, just enough that they weren't next to each other while ensuring a chain reaction, making sure to will them to explode with minimal force—he wanted to activate them, not blow them apart.

He stepped back to watch if it worked, and mentally cheered when it did. The bluenette peered beyond the now open door, and found a long straight hallway, leading to somewhere more open.

Where a group of people were being cornered by three of Gomoratoads.

Well, let's hope that new Cartridge of his actually could get a shot in in this distance, shall we?

* * *

Jack and Cecilia, having introduced themselves to each other (including Hanpan; imagine his and Jack's relief when Cecilia had been welcoming to the wind mouse), decided to rent a horse each to hasten their travels. Well, Cecilia was the one who suggested it and the one to acquire the horses. The caste's horses, as a matter of fact; she made a quick, discreet travel to the castle, briefly greeting her father, the king, and asking him to keep quiet of her return while requesting to borrow the castle's steeds.

The king hadn't bothered to ask, even if he couldn't quite keep his inquisitive look from his face. He knew his daughter would just explain it to him later, and she had a good reason to ask for them; she was so much like her mother in that aspect…

Ahem. Well, back to the two.

Hanpan, having already revealed in the middle of the street near the entrance of the city, was now glad to be able to perch on Jack's shoulder. The wind mouse felt like biting his human partner when Jack had just introduced him out in the open like that. Much to their relief, however, the people of Adlehyde merely spared them a glance before promptly ignoring them, and perhaps labelling the wind mouse as a 'never mind, I don't want to know.' Ah, nothing beats the feel of actual wind caressing your face. "It's good to finally be out in the open," he mused aloud.

Jack nodded in agreement. "You got that right." Then a mischievous smirk made its way to his lips. "Is my pocket that uncomfortable?" he teased. He _definitely_ thought it was, as a hiding place in the very least.

Hanpan sent him a dirty look, unimpressed. "I'd like to see you _not_ complaining if you were me, Jack."

Jack shrugged. He let it drop, knowing he wouldn't win this one, turning instead to his other travel companion, "Well, Cecilia, was it?" The young blonde woman nodded in affirmation. "Where do you get these horses, anyway?"

Her emerald eyes twinkled in amusement. "Why, that's a secret, my good sir," she said humorously.

Jack laughed. "Fine by me, as long as you're the one returning them."

Cecilia nodded, her lips forming a smile. Then, she changed the topic to a more serious one. "What do you think happened at the Coffin?"

Jack hummed, wondering the same thing. "It could be caused by that quake. Maybe they triggered some traps, or monsters attacked or something."

"I hope they're okay…" the (incognito) princess muttered.

Jack was about to voice his agreement, when Hanpan pointed to a distance, saying, "Look, it's Emma; looks like we're here."

The two humans traced the animal's finger/paw and saw that it was indeed Emma. She was talking to a small group of people, the other people looking distressed over something. And after a short while, it seemed _Emma_ was also distressed by the same thing. Though she looked more in the line of _upset_ than distressed.

As they approached, Jack and Cecilia got off from the horse, the former saying, "What happened?"

Emma turned to face them, akimbo. "Well, it looks like the reports are true; there are monsters in the ruins, there's someone else in there, and there are some my workers trapped, too." She massaged her temple, gesturing to the great gates behind her. "What's more, the mechanism got jammed, and it will still take a little while—" here she threw the sheepish workers a dirty look "—which means, we'll have to wait for a little bit longer."

There was a collective mental groan from the two people and an animal.

* * *

The most of the workers were shaking in dread; they weren't trained _at all_ to deal with monsters. Most of them were checking if the Emma Motor was in place when the quake struck. With the quake, monsters poured into the ruins, and the ropes they had been using to climb down got unhooked from the motor due to the heavy weight of the cargo they were trying to get down back then. They had been trying to open the door leading outside when monsters came to their position.

Bad day, indeed.

One of the frog monster croaked much like a real frog would, and opened its maws.

"Get down!" a boyish voice shouted.

They were so terrified that they didn't even notice that the door they had been trying to open was now opened. Without thinking, the men obeyed, dropping immediately to the ground and covered their heads with their hands.

There was a weird electronic-beeping like sound, and a blueish circle formed on the air near the behind of the monster. A boom and a crack resounded, and not even a second later, the monster was engulfed in blue dome of energy and dropped dead, having its brain pierced through (aside from the force). One of them would later swear that whoever it was that killed the thing mentioned something about 'not believing it would work'.

Now, there were only two left of the frog monsters, and they were more interested in the more threatening target. As the monsters turned, croaking all the while, the workers could see a young blue-haired man, wielding the mythical ARM. One of the frog-like creature somehow turned the entire field into one very wet battlefield, and before he could react, one of them fired a jet of water straight to the bluenete's face. Said bluenette stumbled backward, almost slipping but caught himself in the last moment, shaking his head to shake off most of the water. Still, he still looked like a drowned cat.

This drowned cat look-alike, however, had a _bite._

After shooting the two monsters straight in the forehead in succession with energy-amplified bullets—a rare feat, considering his ARM recoil and firing rate (but he was just _so damn_ _ **pissed**_ ), he breathed to calm his temper and smooth out his expression before facing the people. He was rather taken aback at their _positively_ happy/relieved looks.

Heck, some of them even outright _laughed._

He blinked, feeling a headache from being unable to understand why they were just so _relieved_ to the levels like they were being rescued by the Guardians themselves. He just couldn't understand _what was so funny._

His expression must have spoken for him— _again_ —for one of the laughing one gathered his composure to speak for them, "Sorry, no offense for you, boy, but you really arrived in the nick of time when we were already resigned to our fate." He grinned, his eyes _sparkling._

The bluenette glanced at his ARM, still held in his right hand, and emitting a thin wisp of smoke from the barrel. "You're not…scared?" he asked, tentative with a hint of wonder. _To think,_ _there_ are _people who could accept me the way I am…_

He guffawed while shaking his head. After a short moment of laughter, the man offered his hand, saying, "My name's Adalard. I'm the supervisor of Emma Motor installation." He grinned crookedly. "Well, at least before we got trapped here, anyway. And, who is the brave young man who saved our sorry hides?"

Rudy blushed. _When he put it that way, it sounds a lot more than what it actually is._ "Rudy," he said, barely above a whisper that Adalard was forced to turn his head to the side to hear it.

Alas, even that wasn't enough. "Okay, Rody—" said bluenette actually felt sweat-drop forming somewhere on his head, opening his mouth to correct him, but it went unnoticed "—you really need to speak louder, but thanks for the help, and if you don't mind—"

He trailed off as they heard sounds of people running to their direction. Then two people each joined them from the east and west paths. They were panting, like they were chased for their lives—not that it wasn't true in places like this. Adalard smiled sheepishly at the teen, not wanting to seem rude, and he was relieved when said teen waved as if to say "it's fine."

The supervisor immediately went to business, sensing something was amiss. "Report," he ordered.

"Boss, monsters—from the western and eastern!" the one of the four panted. "They're heading this way."

"This is certainly a problem; we couldn't exactly leave the ruins, and we can't climb up anyway," he thought aloud. "Even if we run, they'll catch up to us anyway, and we'll be even more ill prepared to defend ourselves."

"What should we do?" one of the other workers asked, his worry very apparent in his tone, but considering the circumstances, it was understandable.

Rudy could hear the gears in Adalard's head turning to find a solution. _His analysis was right; if we were to run, we couldn't outrun the monsters, and those in the rear could get attacked._ He glanced down at his ARM. _I could probably defend myself, but I won't be able to defend them._ He tsk-ed quietly, his brows furrowing as he could practically hear the telltale sounds of monsters approaching even when they couldn't. _Yet._

… _OH!_

He made a noise in his throat, just barely loud enough to attract his attention. Adalard turned to him, his eyes still showing his dilemma, but nevertheless willing to accept ideas. "I think I have an idea," he said quietly.

Adalard beamed. But the bluenette's next words actually worried him as they were, "But I don't think you'll approve of it."

 _He really needs to step up his confidence,_ the supervisor decided. He knew, however, that this wasn't the time to talk about someone's confidence levels; they could do that later, when they were not being threatened by a bunch of possibly angry-slash-hungry monsters. "Let's hear it," he said.

As the boy ( _teen_ , he corrected himself) explained his brief, simple plan, the older man felt like bashing his forehead on the nearest hard surface.

 _Ho, boy. Emma_ won't _be pleased. Well, I think she's not pleased right now, anyway._

* * *

The scientist was sure that her dark green hair was going to turn completely grey by the time they managed to un-jam the door mechanism. It certainly felt like it was taking forever for her hired workers to finally get the door to _creak_ (more like 'groan', though) open. As the doors were finally opened, they were surprised by the sight of terrified people running out of the ruins. They were screaming in terror, some intelligible, some were actually understandable—that is, if it weren't for the chaotic noises they overall became. Those apparently terrorized people ran passed them all, confusing Jack and Cecilia while worrying Emma and the other workers.

Emma had to raise her voice, gripping the arm of one of them because she couldn't be heard over those people's terrified babbling. "What happened?" she demanded, slapping his cheek with her other hand to force him to focus on her.

The man pointed to the now-ominous-looking depths of the Coffin, sputtering, "There was a freak!"

Emma raised an eyebrow. _'A freak'?_ She voiced her doubt.

The panicked man was either ignoring her and his answer coincided with her question, or he actually heard her. But the scientist didn't even want to know which, but his answer answered her question anyway so she didn't care. He sputtered, "That boy _couldn't_ be human; that _huge_ ARM of his—"

Emma tuned him out after she heard the word 'ARM', her grip growing slack—and the man wrenched his arm free before running away. _It is quite common knowledge that even though there are a few ARM Meisters—most of whom trained under the Dream Chaser Zepet, there isn't any known human capable of handling ARMs. Well, there_ _ **is**_ _a rumor that someone called 'Calamity Jane' could actually use one… Come to think of it, didn't Master's last letter said…_

Emma snapped out of her train of thoughts, waving at Jack and Cecilia, "Come on, we're going in; we're burning daylight as it is." The scientist then took out her glove gun. The two exchanged look at the sight of the weapon, and nodded quickly when Emma gave them an impatient look. The scientist led the other two in, throwing a "don't you dare close the ruins again" at the sheepish workers.

As they stepped in, Cecilia took out her staff and casted basic protection magic on the three ( _where did that thing came from?!_ ), while Jack gripped his sword's sheath in his left hand—from his stance, Emma guessed that he was a practitioner of the Fast Draw, something she had only heard of in books. _Good, they aren't amateur,_ Emma thought, nevertheless pleased that she wasn't wasting her time hiring newbies.

"Jack, look," Hanpan said, pointing with his nose a piece of cloth (somewhat) neatly folded nearby. "Do you think—?" the wind mouse trailed off.

Emma and Cecilia paused, interested. Jack approached the cloth, crouched near it, and started rubbing his fingers on it, feeling the material. "Yeah, this might be that other person's."

Cecilia perked, and took a closer look. "You might be right…"

Now, Emma was interested. "How did you know that?"

The treasure hunter stood up. "This thing might be used as a cloak for someone to use when they were travelling the dessert—I've seen a fair share of Dream Chasers wearing this when I was passing by a town or two in the more desolate places." He gestured at Cecilia, cueing her to say her piece.

The sorceress didn't need any more prompting than what Jack had already directed at her. "I saw someone coming out of the building you're in wearing a cloak similar to this, and I remember he has blue hair." Jack stared openly at Cecilia, even when the latter ignored it.

Emma hummed, placing a hand under her chin. "If those were true, then chances are he's already inside some time ago, and he's the same one as the one reported to me for trespassing into the Coffin." She went akimbo, her glove gun still in her hand. "Alright, Jack, was it?" Said man nodded affirmatively. "Where do you think he went?" She motioned with her hand to their left and their right; the paths branched into three different directions where there was one path each for north, east and west.

Hanpan hopped, climbing down Jack. "Let me," he offered, "my tracking senses might not be as sharp as a dog's, but I could probably determine where he went."

Emma shrugged. She had seen stranger sights than to be surprised of the wind mouse's intelligence. "Be my guest." That, and she didn't care _who_ did the job; she only cared that the job was done well. Well, not counting the whole golem excavations, and some other scientific findings, that is.

The wind mouse promptly got to all fours, only occasionally sniffing the ground. He mostly checked for the path with the most footprints, but it was hard for him to tell; there were already footprints from when people first came into the Coffin, and there were footprints from those terrified people. The ruins lack of adequate lighting didn't help either. Then, his whiskers twitched as he got a spark of inspiration.

His human partner knew when the wind mouse had an idea. "Okay, buddy, where did he go?"

The mouse looked up at the three humans. "It was rather hard at first to track him as there were already tracks from when people first came into this ruins during the excavation. I don't know his scent either, so sniffing around didn't help." Jack gave him a flat look he ignored. "Then, I remembered those terrified people; they were scared by this stranger, right? If so, they were _running away from him._ "

Jack, Emma and Cecilia all caught on, and answered almost in unison, "Then if we know where they were, we could track him down!"

The blue furred mouse nodded. "Exactly."

Emma squinted. The fact that she was already wearing glasses didn't make it easier for her, as the lighting in the ruins was _horrible_ , and thus making looking for footprints on the patterned tiles a _lot_ harder.

But it wasn't impossible.

Several short minutes later, they tracked the blue-haired stranger into the northern path. As they circled down, the sight that met their eyes was something they _somewhat_ didn't expect. There were dead monsters, here and there—the fact there were dead monsters wasn't what surprised them. It was the cause of death. The cause of death was the same on most of them—ARM. One could tell from the circular holes in the monsters' remains, blood pooling under them. Emma recognized some Empusas having their eye pierced, leaving a rather large hole that was way too smooth to be an arrow or a lance. The scientist even found one or two monsters that were left for dead—and dead they were, as they had bled out.

To think, someone really was using an ARM in that caliber—Hanpan had remarked that the rounds piercing the monsters were, in the very least, 10 millimeters in diameter. That was a lot of firepower, and with lack of people capable of wielding an actually operational ARM, it was a surprise.

Emma couldn't help but wonder if this stranger was someone she'd know about…

Cecilia looked around in wonder when they were in the clear. The emerald eyed scientist had to agree with her astonishment. The ruins truly was a marvel from a distant age when humans and elws banded together, using the now lost technology to battle the demons (though it was mostly the elws' contribution due to their mastery over alchemy). The scientist couldn't help but think what it was like in that age; many questions were left unanswered as there were a lot of technology that were lost after the war and the elws' disappearance.

As they walked deeper, Jack let out a wail, scaring his two other companions into running to his side. He was on his knees, fingers dug into his hair. Cecilia was about to ask what was wrong when she saw remains of what vaguely look like a treasure chest made of something similar to wood.

Hanpan confirmed what was in the women's minds. "He's mourning the loss of a treasure or two that he _could_ have claimed. And this is the first time he had done this after all this time we went treasure hunting—crybaby."

Said man threw his partner a dirty look that screamed "traitor".

Cecilia saw something glinting on a piece of the chest, and picked it up, turning it in various angles to see what it was. As she turned it to a certain angle, she noticed a symbol she had read in a book at the Curran Abbey. "Well, even if you _were_ here first, Jack, you can't possibly open this chest," she informed.

The man paused his antics, staring at her, "Say what?"

The sorceress pointed to the very _tiny_ symbol etched on the piece. "See here? This is a magical seal to prevent the chest from being opened by normal means. It's a magical chest that could only be opened by a magical tool." Jack eyed Hanpan. " _Actual_ tools, Jack," Cecilia added.

Hanpan's whiskers bristled— _did Jack just—?!_

Emma clapped her hand, halting the forming argument. "C'mon, people, we have a golem to find." She paused, and added, "and some people," as an aftermath. Well, they had no time to lose; they were already wasting time bad enough, and the three— _four_ knew it. As they make their way to the next room, they noticed two differently colored pillars. The door was open, but it wasn't what made them bat an eyelid. What did was the people in worker apparels were panting hard, sweat visibly glistening even in the poor lighting.

One of them noticed the four, and approached them, immediately speaking albeit his breathlessness. "Dr. Emma," he greeted, huffing to catch his breath.

"What happened here?" the scientist demanded. "I remember assigning you to oversee Emma Motor's installation, and to prepare should we find the golem here." Well, she did remember him because of that…

The man nodded. "Yes, ma'am. That is correct; we were stranded here when our safety cable fell from the crane during the earthquake."

Emma eyed him, the look bordering on suspicion. "It would only happen if you were transporting something heavier than four average adults."

The man nodded. "We were lowering the wheeler when it struck. Fortunately, the wheeler was only several inches from above the ground, so it sustained no damage and should be operable normally. Then we heard the monsters, and decided to hide the wheeler."

Emma felt a little more relieved; she didn't know what she'd do if any of the tools were damaged. They were already on a very tight schedule if they wanted to exhibit the golems in time.

Seeing Emma a bit calmed down due to the news, Cecilia then asked, "Sir, did you see someone else in there? We were looking for someone."

The worker hummed thoughtfully. "Are you talking about a blue-haired youth?" The sorceress nodded. He pointed behind him with a thumb. "Well, he told us to leave the ruins and let him hold back the monsters for as long as he could." At Cecilia's look of horror, he raised his hands, "Believe me, young lady, I don't like it either, but before we could stop him, he already attracted the monsters." He proceeded to scratch his head, letting out of huff of air in frustration. "Poor kid's too selfless for his good. Not that it stops people from apparently hating him for his ARM if his behavior is any indication; it is no secret that some people still believe it to be associated with evil."

Emma voiced their thoughts, "'ARM'? You're sure of it?" Well, the four _knew_ that there was someone wielding an ARM in here, but they had to make sure it was the same person; it would be bad if they came to conclusion too soon, after all.

He nodded affirmatively. "Sure do; he blasted those monsters when we were cornered. The thing's bigger than any other ARM I've ever seen—replica, or otherwise. I hope the kid's alright…"

Emma stared blankly at the man, implications running through her mind, more dots being filled with the information the supervisor had provided. She took out her magical book, and nodded in thanks (much to the man's surprise), and waved at Jack and Cecilia to follow her lead.

As they entered a long hallway, a monster (Gomoratoad) ribbited at them. Cecilia didn't even bother to say anything but wave her staff and blast the creature back with a bit of fire element Crest Sorcery. Jack dashed pass her to quickly slash at another monster which was preparing to sneakily attack. Emma took her time to scan the creature using her not-so ordinary book and Downloaded its ability, gaining one of them and used the Hydro Launcher she had just Downloaded on another sneaking Empusa.

She grimaced. Guardians, the sound of a sputtering monster was _so weird…_

* * *

Adalard stared at the disappearing back of his employer, blinking in disbelief. It was no secret among the workers that Emma was a slave driver who tended to forgo pleasantries, including 'thanks', and the likes. So when he saw her nodding at him in gratefulness, he didn't know what to think; either Rody was the one they're looking for (for reasons he'd rather not know right now), or the boy and his employer had a history which he didn't know.

Well, anyway, as he felt the coming headache, he decided that he didn't want to know the relation between the two. Though he can't help but hope that young Rody will make it out alright, both from (possible) Emma's wrath, and the monsters alike.

* * *

As soon as an Empusa reared its head from the eastern path, Rudy blasted it back with a shot from his Hand Cannon. He made sure the monster didn't die right away, though; he wanted to attract their attention to him—drawing the enemy fire, so to speak—and to do so, he needed to make sure to lure as many as he could into the room while picking them off when he could. But he couldn't do that if the paths (read: doors) to the room were blocked by dead bodies of the monsters.

That had happened several minutes ago with at least ten Empusas, and at least four Gomoratoad.

Another Empusa did a spin-leap-attack at him, and he dropped to a crouch to let the monster fly over his head. The monster shrieked when it slammed with a _thud_ into the hard doors, flopping to the ground, dazed. The bluenette didn't let the monster do anything else as he shot its head twice. A Gomoratoad ribbited. Hearing the noise, he turned and pulled the trigger to his arm. Much to his dismay, it merely clicked; it was out of ammo. He received a blast of water to the face, the sheer force of it slamming him to the door. When he reflexively opened his mouth to yelp, he choked and coughed as some of the water dribbled down his trachea.

As he slid down, he felt something like a bar touching his right elbow. He groped at it using his left hand (his right still tightly holding his ARM—man, was he lucky that ARM could still fire shots even when it was wet, though he thought it used his energy instead of the slotted bullets). He used the bar of steel to push himself off the ground, too preoccupied to notice it sinking as he used it as a leverage. The bluenette then heard a croak from rather far away, but as he had learned the hard (or rather, soaking wet) way, that thing could attack from a distance.

He stumbled back—weren't there supposed to be doors somewhere here? Damn, he still couldn't see; the water stung his eyes. He didn't know what was in the water that made it sting as the other jet of water didn't do this to his eyes, but the young Dream Chaser didn't have the time to wait.

He followed the sound with his instinct, aimed blindly and shot.

* * *

Emma was distracted with trying to accurately cast her (not-so-)newly acquired Hydro Launcher on an Empusa that she didn't notice that a Gomoratoad was aiming at her. It was when the monster croaked gleefully (as gleeful as a monster could, anyway) that she noticed it.

Cecilia had just finished off her Empusa, and the sorceress turned in time to see Emma in the monster's sights. "No!" she screamed, desperately waving her staff, but to her horror realized that she had run out of her magic reserves. Paying back with the ridiculous amount of food she was going to eat later didn't even cross her mind, but she silently prayed desperately, _Please, Schturdark, help!_

 _Fear not, Shaman… Help is already here._

No sooner than the Guardian's words registered in Cecilia's panicked mind, the monster jerked with a resounding _crack_ , its maw opened wide. The monster then slumped in death, blood pooling underneath it. Emma finally killed the Empusa when the monster paused a second too long. There was an utter silence, the only sound being their breathings. The four—three people and an animal, stared at the dead Gomoratoad.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Hanpan cleared his throat. "Did anyone just see what happened here?"

Jack threw his arms up in the air, his sheathed Artic Blade still in his hand. "Beats me."

Emma peered at the wound, "I have to bet this is the 'boy' that man spoke of; it's a clean kill. Too clean to be any sort of arrow, or thrown weaponry." She adjusted her glasses, still a little shaken of her close brush with (possible) death. _Note to self: be a little nicer to him for saving my hide._ "We better hurry."

As they proceeded to the next room where they noticed the roof(?) opened to the skies, the four noticed the dead bodies of many monsters—either Empusas or Gomoratoads, all littered with gunshot wounds. There weren't very many, but considering they were supposedly killed by _one young man_ , it was still a feat, ARM or no ARM.

"This boy isn't an amateur," Jack voiced, crouching over a dead monster, examining the blood. Emma and Cecilia approached him.

Hanpan nodded from Jack's shoulder. "He knew the area of general monster weakness. But, not species-specific ones," the blue animal remarked, "not that it made any difference for these monsters."

Jack nodded. "Whoever this is, he knows what he's doing to these."

Hanpan stared at Jack. "It's a rare sight to see you so serious, Jack," a grin forming on the rodent's face.

The blond man threw the mouse an incredulous look. "Did you really just imply what I think you implied?"

The wind mouse plastered an innocent look on his face, looking up to the sky. "Maybe." Then, he noticed something and pointed up, "What are those?"

The three humans looked up. It was midday by now, so it was rather hard to see through the sun's glare, but they could make out massive shapes on the lips of the opening. Emma instantly recognized her own invention. "Ah, those are my Emma Motors, specifically brought here to lift the golem out of her coffin. Well, it wasn't their intended use, but they should serve it well enough." She sighed dreamily. "Magnificent, aren't they?"

 _This lady…_

Cecilia was the one clearing her throat this time, saying, "Aren't we supposed to look for that person?"

"Oh, yes," Jack glanced around the room before his eyes landed on a lever. He strode towards it. "Let's see what this does," he mused, and pulled the lever, blissfully ignorant of the horror look plastered on Emma's and Hanpan's faces.

But they needn't worry, as the doors opened with a groan. Just like that. No traps, nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing, because as soon as the doors were opened, they heard a roar of a greater creature—or so they assumed, than the monsters outside. And sounds of electricity.

And a loud _crack_ sound akin to an exploding firecracker, only on a stronger caliber.

Emma, fearing the worst befalling her precious golem, strode in quickly—never mind the stilettoes, walking past Jack. Her two human companions didn't waste any more time to catch up with her.

They noticed that the room had its door opened, too, and it was the sight in the other room that had them stop dead in their tracks.

A great beast was in there, roaring and stomping around, electricity dancing on its shell. It was at least two times the height of an average human male adult, amber and ivory spikes protruding from its turtle-like shell, upwards and circling the edges (facing rather downwards). It had a long horn on its head that it used to try to pierce to the body of a young blue-haired man they had been looking for.

"Looks like that thing found a home," Jack remarked, observing the creature's attack pattern. It was like it was pissed from being disturbed from its slumber. _Well, based from that one little limp, I guess our friend managed to injury it,_ he thought, having caught a stumble when the turtle-like being moved one of its hind legs.

Hanpan noticed how the electricity from the devices in the room seemed to be absorbed by the turtle-like creature. "It's eating the energy in the ruins!" he exclaimed.

Emma gasped as the teen was barely able to jump over the creature's long tail sweep, her eyes following the weapon in his hands.

 _An ARM… A real, functioning, complex ARM._

The young Crest Sorceress thought about getting themselves involved in the fight, but considering how tight that room was with how much the monster maneuvered, and how the teen didn't expect them, she'd thought they would just get in his way—possibly getting him killed, too. Cecilia waved her staff to cast an Analyze spell, instead. She gasped when she saw the projected (hologram-like) result of it in front of her. "That's a Magtortus! I thought it only existed in legends!"

"Well, our young friend would be a legend if we don't help him," Jack threw in grimly, clenching his hand tighter on his sword.

 _Nice to know someone has the same idea._

They need not bothered, however; the blue-haired teen jumped back from another horn attack, and when the mythical creature opened its mouth to blast an electrical charge, he whipped his ARM, the bullet chambers opening. His left hand didn't remain still; as it moved, blueish energy gathered, and he dropped something into a bullet chamber, before slamming it close with a wave of his right hand, his left hand still glowing. He lined up a shot, and after a weird electrical beeping, a light blue circle formed in front of the Magtortus. He pulled the trigger.

The bluenette's hand jerked up from the momentum, and his other hand (the left one) didn't have the glow any longer ( _is that an amplifier technique?_ The scientist in Emma wondered). With a booming sound, a blue dome of energy formed around the monster, and as the Magtortus squirmed from the (truthfully minor) energy assault, a crack sounded as something pierced the creature's skull(1). The creature wailed in pain, blood pouring down. The teen didn't waste any more time to execute a similar move. However, instead of the same effect, it had a different one; the bullet seemed to break into larger balls of energy and collided with a great force that it kicked dust on impact(2).

The Magtortus groaned as it collapsed into a heap.

The teen lowered his ARM, panting. Hanpan could have sworn that the lad's cheeks were flushed, and while he knew it was not impossible, he doubted it was because of the fight. As the bluenette shifted out of his battle stance, he grimaced and held his left upper arm with his right hand, still holding the large ARM. He jerked up his head when he noticed something rather white shifting at his peripheral vision.

Cecilia couldn't help shifting her foot, and she had to force back a grimace when those desperate, clouded amber eyes landed on her.

The silence was awkward to say the least.

Emma clapped her hand—silently noting the lad's grimace, "Well, I must thank you for clearing out the ruins for me, and saving my employees, but—"

He _really_ couldn't hold back his grimace at the (usually) dreaded word. The scientist paused in her tracks.

The bluenette almost inaudibly whispered, "It's not my fault; I didn't mean it…" He stepped back, away from them. Hanpan blinked as the ruins lighting got somewhat gradually better as the power wasn't being absorbed from the systems; _he really looks flushed_ , the blue creature mused. Emma folded her arms over her chest, wondering, _what could he possibly mean?_

The scientist didn't mean to look threatening, but apparently the gesture agitated him badly enough that he bolted.

"Hey, wait!" Jack shouted, his hand reaching—in vain, for the blue-haired teen.

* * *

Rudy knew those people thought it was his fault—what body language from them that he glimpsed certainly said so. He really didn't mean to do harm! He just wanted to help people. Why were his attempts to help _always_ seemed to make it worse?

Having two people who were a leader (or somewhat a leader) of a group of people stare at him in hatred within a week was beyond his limits. They were even worse than those looks he had received when he was a kid. At least Grandpa was there to bail him out or to cheer him up.

He was alone. Again. For the umpteenth time in his life. His heart clenched at the thought. That had never gotten old.

As he ran, he felt his feet giving out under him—out of the blue. And he didn't even bother getting up; those people would eventually catch up to him, and it was stupid of him to even try to run away from them. If they thought he was innocent then, they would have thought that he wasn't so innocent when he bolted; only the guilty ran away, so people say. He pressed his forehead on the cold steel surface of whatever it was he was leaning on right now; the bluenette didn't want to see what it was, frankly.

Not for the first time in his life, he wished—so badly, that he could _help restore things_.

Then he suddenly felt more drained than he had ever felt before, and leaned more to the steel surface. He saw flashes of images of things he shouldn't know because he couldn't possibly know.

He saw a dense forest turning into desolate wasteland, the green burned by weapon fires. There were these colorful metal giants battling their more sinister-looking counterparts. A slim, tall tower from the middle of the sea about to be taken over by what looked like sinister creatures of metal ( _were those demons?)_ when itsunk into the depths. Then, there were those people suddenly going on a murdering rampage, wielding ARMs, much like him. There was a bright light before a lush landscape turned into a sea of sand in an instant, wiping out every combatant in the field, humans, human-like, and those sinister guys. Then, he saw golems being shut down as well.

As he felt his consciousness slipping away, he saw a reflection of whatever he was in the vision/dream/hallucination.

It suspiciously looked like a golem from those bed time stories his grandpa used to tell him.

* * *

After the bluenette stranger had bolted, Jack was the first one to chase after him, followed not-so closely by Cecilia and Emma.

But they didn't even have to chase him for long as he had only run to the very next room.

The four saw him leaning on a metal giant. Emma was gaping at the thing, in disbelief that the golem was actually there. Cecilia spared the golem a glance, but tried and forced herself to pay attention to the young teen practically sprawled against the dormant giant. She opened her mouth to say something, when the greenish light was emitted from his hands. The light travelled from the teen's hands, crawling up, around the golem like branches of a tree. When the light reached what looked like the golem's eye sockets, they seeped in.

Two things happened at once.

The blue-haired teen crumpled against the golem's foot, and said golem let out a groan as its hand tried to move, but couldn't move it as smoothly as it should. Then the eye sockets glowed a neon yellow.

The three humans took a collective step back.

"I thought the golems weren't supposed to be active anymore," Hanpan yelped, his ears and tails standing rigidly as the golem seemed to be eyeing them.

"You mean this is what we were looking for? I thought I had found my _Absolute Power_... Why did I get my hopes up?" Jack's shoulders visibly sagged.

"Now is not the time, Jack!" Hanpan reprimanded. "If we don't figure out why it's active and who controls it, we're toast!"

However, the golem—Lolithia?—didn't even acknowledge their presence as threatening. It— _she_ rumbled. Like it was thoughtful or something. Then she continued to move her hand to scoop up the bluenette slumped against her foot gently.

Cecilia stared up at the golem, strangely feeling connected to her. Then, she muttered to herself, "Were you trying to protect him?"

Much to their surprise, the golem actually rumbled out a response.

Cecilia placed a hand on her chest. _This is silly, golems couldn't feel anything…_ Yet she replied the golem with in return; it couldn't hurt to try, right? "I see. But we weren't trying to hurt him or anything." The sorceress had to force herself to maintain eye contact with the massive steel weapon, ignoring the blatant look of incredulousness Jack aimed at her, and the intrigued look Emma had.

Lolithia then moved forward, her hand tipping slightly to let her cargo to slide down gently. The sorceress, out of reflex, dropped her staff and reached to catch the limp form ( _oomph, a little heavier than I thought…_ ) from Lolithia. She rumbled her satisfaction, and then powered down.

Cecilia blinked, hugging the teen to herself like a doll awkwardly because she didn't know how else to hold the shorter teen up.

Another awkward silence ensued.

Emma cleared her throat, walked to the front of the golem before facing them, and throwing her arms to side dramatically. "This is a Golem, a legend from a bygone era. Somehow it was sealed in these ruins... We've been excavating these ruins in the hope of exhibiting this Golem specimen in the Ancient Culture Exhibition."

Jack, Cecilia, and Hanpan exchanged incredulous looks before reading her eyes, in silent desperation trying to ask them to cooperate.

She was going to pretend nothing happened—maybe in an attempt to preserve what little sanity she had left by then. Well, fine by them; the only one who could possibly know what happened was out cold anyway…

"I guess, let's head back to Adlyhyde?" Jack suggested. At Emma's look, he frantically waved his hands. "With the golem, I mean."

Hanpan slapped his paw on his forehead. "You oaf! Cecilia can't possibly carry him herself; be a man and help her out a bit, why don't ya?" The wind mouse darted away from Jack's embarrassed swipe.

By the moment they headed back to Adlehyde, with Lolithia the golem—somehow—in tow (and covered, of course), it was dusk, and they received weird looks from the people before those folks shook their heads and writing it off as 'Emma's weirdness; I don't want to ask.' Who wouldn't; Cecilia was riding a horse on her own, Emma was sitting on the 'wheeler' (while driving it) she used to carry Lolithia, her workers trailing behind the group, looking tired, dirtied, but satisfied of a job well done, and Jack…

Well, let's say Jack was the one with the most spectacle out of all of them when people weren't staring in wonder at the giant thing wrapped in tarps.

* * *

Footnotes:  
(1) Snipe Bullet  
(2) Boosted Shell

 _ **Hi, I'm back again. Damn, this thing is suprisingly quick to type, and surprisingly longer (the plotted chapter plot looked a lot shorter...). Had to get my hands on the dungeon maps, and Krysmphoenix's LP helps me getting a look at the dungeon itself. Had to skip some puzzles as they won't be solvable with the trio (currently) separated. Oh, and Split Infinity's (or Splitplaythru's) video of Rudy's shoot outs also helps as I watched that to describe the Cartridges. Granted, I won't be describing them by a lot, and would rather use them by name...**_

 _ **Didn't know how big/small Lolithia's Coffin actually is, so I'm making those up. Well, I'm making up a lot of things, actually.**_

 _ **Frankly, I really don't know the actual size of Rudy's ARM or if it's even called "Hand Cannon" in the remake. The thing's looks pretty big in the opening movie (and in the gameplay), yet it's hidden (quite) well in the same movie (headscratches).**_

 _ **Jack has a strange hobby of being somewhat dumb/clueless, and holding his sword/katana by the scabbard in his left hand, holding it in front of him.**_

 _ **Cecilia's English dub (in another WA game) gives me chills. That staff of hers looks much like Yuna's (FFX), don't you think? It it also why some times I might potray her somewhat a bit like her. The Japanese dub from the Japanese version of the game doesn't exactly help either :P**_

 _ **Oh, and a tip for those who (wants) to watch Twilight Venom: watch it in Japanese dub.**_

 _ **C.R. Takato**_


End file.
